On Friday, a 53-year-old Chinese man from Hong Kong was charged with smuggling protected American wildlife to China, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Sai Keung Tin allegedly helped smuggle 40 eastern box turtles, a protected species, to China, by labeling the packages containing the smuggled animals as almonds and chocolate cookies.
“Tin was arrested Feb. 25 at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York City and made his initial appearance the following day in federal court in Brooklyn. His arraignment is expected in the coming weeks in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles,” the statement read.
According to the indictment, Tin “knowingly and illegally aided in the exportation of 40 eastern box turtles to be sent from the United States to Hong Kong.”
“Wildlife inspectors at an international mail facility in Torrance, California, intercepted four packages addressed to ‘Ji Yearlong,’ a name believed to be one of Tin’s aliases, and which were to be shipped to Tin’s home in Hong Kong,” the statement continued.
Three of the four packages Tin allegedly sent contained between eight and 12 living turtles bound in socks to prevent them from moving, while the fourth contained seven live turtles and one deceased turtle, the DOJ said.
Prosecutors allege that Tin was an associate of Kan Juntao, a convicted financier of turtle smuggling. Juntao, a Chinese national, was extradited from Malaysia on Dec. 10, 2020, to face trial in the United States, pleading guilty to financing a turtle smuggling network worth over $2 million, according to a press release from the DOJ at the time.
Juntao was sentenced on Oct. 6, 2021, to 38 months in jail and one year of supervised release, the DOJ noted.
Eastern box turtles “are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become threatened with extinction. The United States and China are parties to this agreement.
“The Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute those who finance and profit from illegal wildlife trafficking, even if they do so from abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, according to the press release.
If convicted on each count of smuggling, Tin could face up to 40 years in prison.
The post Chinese National Indicted for Smuggling Protected Species of Turtle to China appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: John Symank
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